The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra perform at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall _320

FAILING to schedule Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture was not an option, as Philharmonic Chief Executive Michael Eakin said in his concert preamble to a full house.

And just as this concert blockbuster attracts audiences whenever it’s performed, it also encapsulates, in music, Beethoven’s ideals of "freedom, fairness and justice", as the programme notes pointed out.

The piece has, of course, been adopted as the "national anthem" of the European Union, though quite how Beethoven’s idealism would have dealt with the present political state of Europe is quite another thing. And that is not for here.

Just as Beethoven Nine will draw crowds, so did the conductor of last night’s concert. Vladimir Ashkenazy, the Phil’s Artist Laureate for 2008, was back in Liverpool, his subtle approach to his conducting paying off handsomely, especially in the first half of the concert – a performance of excerpts from the Incidental Music to Egmont, also by Beethoven. The symphony’s first movement was constantly questioning, seeking an answer, yet Ashkenazy imbued a feeling of urgency in to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, with some particularly powerful unison passages.

The second movement was rather less satisfactory with some rather frayed edges. Yet that urgency was there and the trio section was particularly breathless.

A quite sublime third movement led to the choral finale.

Here the chorus was, in general, in fine form, though the men felt a little weak at times, the tenors occasionally feeling particularly exposed. The solo quartet – soprano Emma Morwood, mezzo Anna Burford, tenor Andrew Kennedy and Garry Mageem, baritone – was generally highly dependable, but almost ran away with themselves at the end of the movement. The tenor soloist was – at times – particularly sprightly.

The Egmont excerpts made the RLPO sound particularly bright – a highly refreshing sound. The deliberate opening of the overture flowered into a vivacious interpretation while Klarchen’s first song – with minimal orchestration – showed Emma Morwood’s fine, strong voice off perfectly.

Jonathan Small’s mini concerto in the Entr’acte to Act Three was particularly memorable, while the music to accompany Klarchen’s death was especially poignant.